Oooo, very excited about today's cheese.
Raclette! Ca c'est très formidable!
Raclette is one of the stinkiest cheeses around. The first time I bought some, I had no idea what it was. I was totally shocked by its stench, but was more shocked at how fast/well it melted. It wasn't till a few grilled cheese sandwiches later that I realized I was doing it
all wrong!
Hailing from the Swiss/Savoie/Alp regions, this semi-soft, cows milk cheese is considered *ancient* as it was a popular cheese to eat during the Middles Ages. Traditionally, a wedge was heated in front of an open fire, where the exposed side started to bubble and brown. The melted cheese was then scraped with a knife onto a plate with meat and potatoes.
Not much has changed.
Having a sort of ritual like Fondue, it's hard to find Raclette eaten any other way. You don't really sit around in your kitchen by yourself watching SVU with a bottle of wine and munch on Raclette. It's much more of a social cheese, involving several friends and a big spread of foods to eat it with:
It can be eaten with potatoes and meats as they did back in the day, it can be eaten with vegetable and pickles (as they do popularly in Quebec), or just eaten with some bread and fruit as a dessert. But the common rule is that it is always heated till bubbly and then scraped - "racler" means "to scrape" in French. Done and done.
Nowadays, one can of course heat Raclette in front of a fire (thus why it's a traditional wintertime cheese and evokes images of barren ski lodges and bear rugs). But hell, in the age of iPhones, there are much more efficient ways to do so. Raclette grills exist - type it in Google Images, you'll see a ton. Most common are the types with a grill plate on top (for heating your meats and veggies), with little grill dishes underneath for the cheese. In fact,
Williams-Sonoma carries one for $139 (hey Christmas gift idea!):
Trust me, I am a kitchen appliance nazi. I hate having too many appliances, let alone appliances that only serve one function. But a Raclette grill? I would have one in a heartbeat. Because not only can I think of a few ways that I can use this grill (it looks somewhat universal for other creations); but also because Raclette is simply delicious and it would give me a good reason to eat tons of it! Nom nom nom....
You can buy Raclette at Whole Foods, cheese stores and of course on online cheese shops.
